\9S Transactions. 



Bodies of the dead were carried to the grave on a litter or 

 bier formed of poles. They were borne head first, whereas in 

 so carrying a living person the head is always kept up-hill. 



Among coast-dwelling tribes, more especially where no forest 

 is near, it was a common thing for sandhills to be utilised 

 as burial-grounds. Where dunes of pure sand exist, devoid of 

 vegetable growth, the disturbance of such would leave no traces 

 longer than a few hours, especially so were a wind blowing at the 

 time. Such a burial-place is the ancient one at O-pihi, among 

 the sandhills near the beach, and just across the river from 

 Whakatane Township. This place has been used as a burial- 

 ground for centuries past. The saying " O-pihi whanaunga kore " 

 (O-pihi the relationless) is applied to it. " Our ancestors Tarna- 

 ki-Hukurangi and Rakei-ora were buried at O-pihi. That was 

 the permanent burial-place of our ancestors from ancient days 

 down to the present time. Afterwards Putauaki (Mount Edge- 

 cumbe) became a famed burial-place. In later times the dead 

 were buried in swamps, in lagoons, on hills, in valleys. Hence 

 burial-places became much more numerous." 



In ancient times no large burial-grounds existed anywhere 

 near Native settlements, but when disastrous epidemics were 

 introduced by Europeans, then such great numbers of people 

 died that they were buried near the village homes, and many 

 were never exhumed. Sometimes the death-rate was so appal- 

 ling that the survivors fled in terror to seek a new home, often 

 leaving many dead unburied behind them. 



Burial-grounds are tapu, and are avoided by Natives. They 

 do not like passing such places after dark, for they have an idea 

 that the spirits (wairua) of the dead are abroad at such a time. 

 How they reconcile this belief with another that spirits of the 

 dead descend to the underworld they are not able to explain. 



When a young Native workman was killed by a rolling log 

 on the roadworks at Ruatahuna, Natives disliked passing the 

 spot where the accident occurred, after dark, for some time 

 afterwards, for fear of encountering the ghost-spirit of the dead. 

 Any who so passed after nightfall would sing lustily a Native 

 song while so passing. His companions objected to return to 

 work at that spot, whereat the deceased man's grandfather pro- 

 posed to huki te toto — i.e., to remove a portion of the dead man's 

 blood on a stick and, by an incantation or charm, to remove the 

 tapu from the spot. 



A burying-place is termed " urupa " or " toma." A burial- 

 cave, where exhumed bones of the dead are deposited, is called 

 a " whara," or " rua koiwi," or " ana korotu." The expression 

 '' whara " is sometimes applied to hollow trees in which bones 

 are deposited. At Te Tawa-a-Wairoto, near Rua-toki, is a burial 



